A Bit About School

The day I started school was the scariest experience of my life. On Monday when I enrolled, all of the boys were whistling and everybody was staring and muttering "gringa" which means, "American." Needless to say, I did not want to go to school on Tuesday... however, it couldn't have gone better. I had a drawing class (with a cockroach crawling around the room), English (which is a piece of cake), and Physics. The math and physics classes are easy because they don´t involve much talking (plus it´s material that I covered a few years before).

All of the school walls have graffiti and the desks are crummy (picture Sister Act II). I miss the structure that I'm used to... and the homework too. My classmates are really nice and I haven´t had any trouble finding people to talk to.

I've already experienced leaving school in the middle of the day because the teacher didn't show up... so our class hung out in the park. Tomorrow, all of my morning classes are cancelled and I don't start until two o'clock.

Seline (my exchange student friend from Switzerland) and I eat lunch at a little restaurant everyday. It's run by three older ladies. It´s really nice to have a real meal in the middle of the day. There´s always fresh fruit juice (mango, tangerine, starfruit... you name it). After school, on my way to the bus stop, I sometimes buy a sliced up mango in a bag.

Gym class is so different! It´s held in a tiny cement gymnasium behind the school... and the girls and boys have separate classes! It´s funny that the girls were learning how to shoot baskets, but we had to learn "the girl way" --I didn't even break a sweat in that class!

Í can tell that my Spanish is getting better--speaking is still harder than listening. In psychology, I was able to write down all of the notes that the teacher was saying! The only homework I've had so far is for religion (Bible facts).

The really funny thing here is that although class starts at a specific time (according to the schedule), we don´t start until a good ten minutes after. There is no desk arrangement, whenever we start a class, everybody moves the desks in a clump as close together as possible-- it was really bizarre at first, but now I'm used to it.

I swear that this country is addicted to junk food! The school is surrounded by junk food stores and there are a bunch inside the school, too! At every break, the students all go to buy junk food!

Another funny observation: We brush our teeth 3 times day here. I have to bring my toothbrush and paste to school so that I can brush my teeth in the restaurant after I eat lunch...there´s a sink in the back for the customers to brush their teeth.